Improved reverberatory furnace



C. G. BEST.

Roasting Ores.

No. 9,227. Patented Aug. 31, 1852.

AM. PH ITO-LlTHO-C0. N.Y. (OSBORNE'S PROCESS.)

UNITED STATES I Eric.

ATENT IMPROVED REVERBERATORY FURNACE.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 9,227, dated August 31,1852.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHRISTOPHER G. BEsr, of the city and county ofAlbany, and the State of New York, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Reverberatory Furnaces for Smelting Iron or other LikeMetal; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, andexact description of the same, reference being had to the annexeddrawings, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is avertical elevated section. Fig. 2 is a back view of the furnace, andFig. 3 is a plan view.

The same letters refer to like parts in all the figures.

The nature of my invention consists in construeting a furnace forsmelting metal in such a manner that the fire-chamber is separate fromthat in which the metal is placed, and is placed above but near to themetal, and the flame and heat from the fuel in a state of combustionmade to act upon and pass down through the whole of the metal in thefurnace, thus enabling the heat to act more evenly and to be morethoroughly diffused throughout the whole stack of metal in the furnacethan is done in any of the furnaces in common use.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I willproceed to describe its construction and operation.

A is the furnace for the fuel. The coal is placed in the grate a, andthe small doors a at below the grate are for the purpose of clearing theribs of clinkers, &c.

A is an aperture at the bottom of the furnace stack, to admit air. Thestack of the furnace is circular, and hollow below the ribs a. The air,as it passes up through the space below the ribs, absorbs all the heatradiated from the bottom of the grate and enters the furnace in ahighly-heated state.

B is the chamber in which the metal to be smelted is placed. It is acircular stack, and

\ is separated from the fuel by the non-conductthere is a large door, D,on the back of the I furnace, for the workmen to go into the stack andpile up the heavy pieces of metal. The bottom of the metal-chamber isinclined at E, on which incline the molten metal flows down, and can beremoved at the outlet-door F. The metalchamber is connected with thesmoke or escape chimney G, and the escaping gases pass through anopening, H, above the incline E, and then pass up the chimney, asindicated by the arrows. The interior of the furnace is all lined withfire-brick, and the outside is covered with iron and well banded by thebands I I I. As the flame acts upon the whole surface of the. metal, andas the heat acts upon the whole body of metal equally when passingthrough it, the whole mass of metal is more equally exposed to the heat;consequently the action of the heat upon the metal is more uniform andperfect than in any furnace now in use. The construction of this furnacealso allows of its being charged at intervals like a cupola-furnace. Itsform allows its being well bound, thus enabling it to work with theeconomy as well as the convenience of the cupola -furnace. It can beused either as a draft or a blast furnace. The metal can be smelted withany desirable flux, if necessary, or merely for the purpose of reducingit to a moltenstate. The heated products of combustion in a state offlame or gas are alone applied to reduce the metal in the chamber B.Therefore the smelter has complete command over his metal, to reduce itas he chooses in the manner which he coir siders most appropriate.

The advantages of this improvement in furnaces are Very great, and willbe the means of greatly benefiting those employed in the manipulationsof smelting and casting iron.

The above may be built of a square form, if desired; but the circularform is the best.

Having thus described my invention, I claim The reverberatory furnaceconstructed as described, the fuel, with the fire-box A, being above themetals to be melted in the chamber B, and bringing the flame and heatedproducts of combustion vertically down through the metals in the chamberB, in the manner and for the purposes set forth.

CHRISTOPHER GUY BEST.

Witnesses:

S. H. H. PARSONS, CHARLES FERGUSON.

